Toy railway



G. EINFALT 4 TOY RAILWAY Filed April 26, 1937 Zava/lion A Patented lNov.21,

'This invention relates to automatic reversal of automatic switching onapart from the fact that 'lui'rlizN'r oFFlcE "roi nauwer GeogEinialt,Nuremberg, Germany Application Aprilv 26,

In G el'mlly 1 claim.

the

and

the direction, but their drivlngwheel-work is complicated and expensive,they lack an automatic actuation of the are provi vtaining lamps and theCounter to the existing tion,

signal disks, where such ded, especially -as concerns the apperswitchesfor the same. toys of the type in questhe present improved railway-toycoinprises asimpliiied driving wheel -work, also a simplined reversingmechanism ard illuminated signal disks, the

lamps oi which (green and red) are automatically switched on and oi, orreversed respectively, in red light-appears prior such a mann'er thatthe to effecting the reversal of the locomotive, or the carriage,respectively,

indicating, that the line locomotive or carriage intended to be run inthe same direction as the which had just arrived.

locomotive or carriage The invention is illustrated diagrammatically andby way of example drawing on which Figure entire arrangement andconstituting my invention, the members shown in Fig. verse section inthe plane A-B thedirection from the right to shows the right-handJillustrated in Fig. 1, the

enlarged s'cale relatively -is a transverse sectionin On the drawing ofwhich is particularly and 5, and which may on the accompanyingcombination of parts Figure 2 is a'plan of 1, Figure 3is a transoi Fig.2, seen in the leftFigure 4 portion of the wheel-work ligure being drawnto an to Fig. 1, andl Figure 5 the plane C-D of Fig. 4.

I denotes the rail, the proiile distinctly visible in Figs. 3

be straight or circularly curved; near each end of the rail is anupwardly extending hook purpose of these At one end of the rail isgreen,"and the other,

recess, is red. l

, Between the recesses vertically guided slide edge upon a wire-bow Y 2,or2' respectively, which' is made ofa piece offthe material of the rail.The

hooks will be stated later on.

is a signal box 3 whiclil encloses an incandescent lamp 5l suppliedwith'g'- battery 4 (Fig. 3). In the" box, o ppo'site'the rail, are whichareclosed by transsuitable material, of which pertaining to the recess6, pertaining. to theu'pper 6, 1 and thelampiis a 8 which. restsl withits lower bent as shown in Fig. 1.

a toy-railway with' direction. and with K off of .the lamps of signaldisks at every reversal.

I am aware of the existence of toy-railways with automatic reversal o'fis now blocked for a' 1 is a side view of the.

February 26, 1937 (c1. s4-zit) In said slide is an aperturecorrespondingto one of the said recesses, said aperture being located normally(Fig. 1) behind the lower recess, so that the green color is visible.'I'he bow 9 is oblique for part of-its length is horizontally shiftable5 and is guided by a vertical slot I0 provided in the front wallv of thecasing 3 below the recesses 6, 1. While the oblique portion of the bowis located in front of the casing, above the rail, its rear portion islocated behind the casing 3 and is here inte- 10 grally connected with arod II located below'the rail. The free endof this rod extends upwardlythrough a slot I2 of -the rail and forms there a pin I3. In Fig. 1 areshown the two end positions of the bow 9 and the rod I I, the oneposition in 15 full lines, the other in dotted lines. j

I4 denotes the body of the locomotive in which are supported threerunning axles I5, I6 and I1, each o f which is -provided with runningwheels I8. The axle I6 is the driving axle, as regards 20 driving thelocomotive, but. I9 is the driving axle proper as regards aspring-actuated wheel-work. On the axle I6 isa pinion 24 which mesheseither directly J with .a cog-wheel 23 driven by the axle I9 by theintermediaryl of a cog-wheel 25 20 and a pinion 2|, or with anintermediate pinion 26 depending on the position of the pinion 24; vTheaxle I6 bearing this pinion is at its ends vsupported in slightly curvedslots 2i, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, and it depends on the posi-34 tion of said axle in these slots, viz. at the one or the other end ofthe-same, whether the pinion meshes directly with the cog-wheel 23 orindirectly by .theintermediary of the pinion 26. The ends of the axle I6extend into a bow 21 3 which is located transversely with respect to thelocomotive frame I4 and can be shiftedin the longitudinal directionthereoi'as much as perf mitted 'byl the slots 25.Correspondinglytherewith the axle` I6 can be shifted intozthe one andthe other of the two positions in which the pinion 24 meshes either withthe pinion 26 or with the cog-wheelf 2 3, as described. The two bows arefirmly connected with one another at their lower portions so as to formdownwardly extending hooks `.28 having each a recess 29 (Figs. 4 and-5)The hooks 28 engage alternately the rail 'hooks 2, 2' and the pin I3.passes` then through -the recesses 29 so that itis not engaged by thesame.

Counter to the casing 3, at the other end of the rail I, is a casing 3ldesigned asalocomotive shed o r a. railway terminus or the like andbeing large enough to receive the locomotive I4, as, showlrin dottedlines.

According as whether the'pinion' 2,4 of the wheel-work of the locomotivemeshes with the pinion 26 (as in Fig. 4) or with the cog-wheel 23, thelocomotive will be driven in the one or in the other direction, as hasalready been described. When the members 23, 24, 26, 21 are in theposition shown in Fig. 4, the locomotive will run into the casing 3|,where the angular foot 28 of the bow 21 engages the hook 2 (see Fig. 4).The locomotive is now stopped, but there has arisen, of course, acertain inertia in the locomotive while it had been in motion, thatinertia being partly due also to the acceleration arising during therunning, and this being so, the axle I6 with the pinion 24 thereonproceeds in its motion,l viz. in the slots 25 of the bow 21, so that itmoves along in these slots until it arrives at the other end of the samewhere it is stopped. Owing hereto, the pinion 24 leaves the cog-wheel 23and meshes with the pinion 26 whereupon the direction of motion of thelocomotive will be reversed and the locomotive will leave the shed `orterminus 3I and run now in the direction to the .signal casing 3.

At that end of the wheel-work frame I4 which is located opposite thesignal casing is a platespring 30 (Fig. 1) which projects beyond thelower edge of the respective wall of said frame and encounters the pinI3 of the rod II whereby this rod will be'shifted, as will also the bow9. These members (I3, II, 9) will be shifted from the position shown inFig. 1 in full lines into the position shownin dotted lines. Therefore,the oblique portion of the bow 9 will pass away below the slide 8 whichwill drop and uncover the red light, but cover the green one. As theplate spring 30 gives way after the rod II has been shifted and comesthen to a standstill, the locomotive proceeds further on its way andencounters nally the hook 2 where now the same `action takes place aswith the hook 2', that is to say, the axle I6 with the pinion 24 willagain change its position in the slots 25 of the bow 21 and thedirection of running of the locomotive will again be reversed. Thespring 30 now engages again the pin I3, the rod II is again shifted, thebow 9 is likewise again shifted, and the slide 8 is thereby lifted sothat now the green light will be uncovered and the red one will becovered.

I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to all details ofthe constructional form of the rail and of the locomotive, as well as ofthe signal plant, illustrated in the drawing merely by way of example.Thus, for instance, the locomotive may have any desired outerappearance, as' now being built, and may have only two running axlesinstead of three. It is also possible to provide a signal-plant at eachend of the rail, and modifications arepossible in the means foroperating that plant or those plants by means of the running locomotive.The chief characteristic features of the invention reside in thearrangement and combination of parts effecting the automatic reversal ofthe direction of running of the locomotive or its equivalent.

In a toy railway, in combination with a track and a vehicle movablethereon, a reversible geartrain in said vehicle, a member extending fromthe reversing mechanism of said gear-train down between the rails, andan optical signalling device at an end of the track, two projectionsextending upwardly between the rails and being spaced in the directionthereof and located near said signalling device, the projection locatednearest thereto being stationary and so arranged relatively to saiddownwardly extending member of the reversing mechanism as to be adaptedto engage it so as to operate thereby this mecha- -nism, and the otherprojection being shiftable in the direction of the track and adapted tobe engaged by the vehicle, and means for transmitting the movement ofthis projection to the said signalling device.

. GEORG EINFALT.

